I Stop Cleaning the House

I stopped cleaning the house! I thought you would be pleased to hear this, as yes, it does mean I am writing. I thought that I might be going to write magazine articles but it turns out I am writing a novel. It is a pretty terrible novel, but it might get better. I started it once, but it wasn't right at all, so now I have started it again from a completely different point of view and it is much better. I am writing every day, but I stare out the window more than write, and sometimes I only manage a paragraph a day. I feel like I should maybe just write and come back and make it perfect later, but it really is difficult not to perfect it now. Although it is going to take some time if I can only manage a paragraph a day. For the first few days I managed to sabotage myself beautifully by doing the housework and gardening every day before I sat down to write. Then I had a four day weekend with the girls because private school reasons, then I had one day to write before going back to work, and I wrote for a day and fit in all the housework and errands after my writing work day like people with jobs have to do anyway. For a single day now I have treated writing like a real job, and it felt good. Now I have to make it pay like a real job. Today as I was chasing a four year old kindergarten escapee up the street in the rain I was thinking that writing as a job sounded pretty good really.. drier anyway..

We are dog-sitting our neighbour's beautiful cocker spaniel puppy. Beautiful, but just as brain-dead as our own beloved hound. Every time I sweep the floor she comes to investigate and sweeps her long black ears through the pile of dirt. She has long elegant black ears permanently edged with a fringe of grey fluff. Today she ate my gardening shoes, which clearly tired her out.

I made salsa! Out of chilies and green capsicums and tomatoes that I grew myself! I made passata! Now I just have to find something to do with approximately seventy five zucchinis.. this time of year the garden often makes me panic, but then I realise that I don't have to do it all myself - the world is full of hungry people to share with. And only some of them have gardens full of zucchini. So the rest will be pleased to see a zucchini (or two) coming up the garden path.. won't they?